Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Hans Tentije

THE INCONCEIVABLE

Trying to conceive the inconceivable, the moment
when just like that it hits you
that time’s up and you’re lucky
to be allowed one last glimpse

through tall windows at — as though painted by a Dutch master —
bleachfield-white thunderheads above a meadow
near Haarlem, their shadows lunging
toward and past the frame’s edge, the draft
at window jambs and joints

ill-equipped you note, despairing, how the actual
and the imagined have become ever more
intertwined and with the sometimes
so painfully magnificent —

the comforting, vaguely melancholic, already autumnish
late-summer days, the sandbanks and turbulent time-inundating
waves, old friendships, snippets
of music wafting through your mind, your
beloved’s infectious laugh

but what are your rooms and their objects to do, soon
when you finally forsake them and your words, memories
clot in your veins, brain tissue
only to be released

to water, air, earth, fire

HET ONVOORSTELBARE

HET ONVOORSTELBARE

Je het onvoorstelbare proberen voor te stellen, het ogenblik
waarop het plots tot je doordringt
dat het over en uit is en je bevoorrecht bent
nog even te mogen kijken

achter hoge ramen de als door een Hollandse meester
    geschilderde
bleekveldwitte stapelwolken boven een weiland
in de buurt van Haarlem, die hun schaduwen voortstuwen
naar en over de omlijsting, de tocht
bij kozijnen en sponningen

slecht toegerust zie je, vertwijfeld, hoe het werkelijke
en het ingebeelde hechter en hechter
met elkaar vervlochten zijn geraakt en met het soms
zo schrijnend luisterrijke –

de gelukkig stemmende, licht droefgeestige, al herfstige
nazomerse dagen, de zandbanken en tijd overspoelende
    onstuimige
brandingen, oude vriendschappen, flarden
door je hoofd spelende muziek, de aanstekelijke
lach van je geliefde

maar wat moeten je kamers en hun voorwerpen straks
als je ze eenmaal de rug toekeert en je woorden, herinneringen
in je bloedsomloop, je hersenweefsel
zullen stollen, om overgeleverd te worden

aan water, lucht, aarde, vuur
Close

THE INCONCEIVABLE

Trying to conceive the inconceivable, the moment
when just like that it hits you
that time’s up and you’re lucky
to be allowed one last glimpse

through tall windows at — as though painted by a Dutch master —
bleachfield-white thunderheads above a meadow
near Haarlem, their shadows lunging
toward and past the frame’s edge, the draft
at window jambs and joints

ill-equipped you note, despairing, how the actual
and the imagined have become ever more
intertwined and with the sometimes
so painfully magnificent —

the comforting, vaguely melancholic, already autumnish
late-summer days, the sandbanks and turbulent time-inundating
waves, old friendships, snippets
of music wafting through your mind, your
beloved’s infectious laugh

but what are your rooms and their objects to do, soon
when you finally forsake them and your words, memories
clot in your veins, brain tissue
only to be released

to water, air, earth, fire

THE INCONCEIVABLE

Trying to conceive the inconceivable, the moment
when just like that it hits you
that time’s up and you’re lucky
to be allowed one last glimpse

through tall windows at — as though painted by a Dutch master —
bleachfield-white thunderheads above a meadow
near Haarlem, their shadows lunging
toward and past the frame’s edge, the draft
at window jambs and joints

ill-equipped you note, despairing, how the actual
and the imagined have become ever more
intertwined and with the sometimes
so painfully magnificent —

the comforting, vaguely melancholic, already autumnish
late-summer days, the sandbanks and turbulent time-inundating
waves, old friendships, snippets
of music wafting through your mind, your
beloved’s infectious laugh

but what are your rooms and their objects to do, soon
when you finally forsake them and your words, memories
clot in your veins, brain tissue
only to be released

to water, air, earth, fire
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère